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Monday, March 13, 2006

Herman Miller, Inc., Retains Top Spot in Fortune's 'Most Admired'

Herman Miller is ranked once again as the "Most Admired" company in its industry in Fortune magazine's annual survey broadly measuring the reputation of America's corporations.

The results, published in Fortune's March 6, 2006, edition, rate Herman Miller as the most admired firm in the furniture industry for the 18th time in the last 20 years. The publication ranked Herman Miller first among all companies in its industry in four of the eight key attributes of reputation -- innovation, employee talent, social responsibility and quality of products/services.

"The Fortune ranking recognizes the lively talent that we have throughout our corporate community, as well as our spirit of innovation and commitment to enduring quality and problem-solving design," said Brian C. Walker, President and CEO of Herman Miller. "We aim to differentiate ourselves from the competition, and it's terrific to see the results of that effort show up so clearly again this year."

The magazine characterizes the annual listing as "the definitive report card on corporate reputations." To compile the Most Admired list, Fortune enlisted the help of Hay Group, which sorted the Fortune 1,000 and the top foreign companies operating in the U.S. into 65 industry lists, each containing the 10 largest companies. Hay then surveyed executives, directors, and analysts, asking them to rate companies in their own industry according to eight criteria: innovation, employee talent, financial soundness, quality of management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility; long-term investment, and quality of products/services. To create the top 20 list, Hay Group asked the 10,000 respondents to the industry survey to select the 10 companies they admired most, regardless of category. These were chosen from a list of the companies that ranked among the top 25% in last year's survey, in addition to those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. A total of 611 companies in 70 industries were surveyed.

Herman Miller helps create great places to work, heal, learn, and live by researching, designing, manufacturing, and distributing innovative interior solutions that support companies, organizations, and individuals all over the world. The company's award-winning products, complemented by furniture-management and strategic consulting services, generated over $1.51 billion in revenue during fiscal 2005. Herman Miller is widely recognized both for its innovative products and business practices. The company trades on the NASDAQ market under the symbol MLHR.